Scrapes & Ivy
by ifonlynotnever
Summary: ONE SHOT. TezuRyo. Perhaps going camping out in the middle of nowhere wasn't such a good idea after all...


**Disclaimer**: I own no part of _Tenisu no Oujisama _(Prince of Tennis). This fanfiction was written solely for entertainment purposes.  
**Rating**: K+ for shounen-ai.  
**Warnings**: Shounen-ai. TezuRyo.  
**Summary**: (ONE SHOT)(TezuRyo) Perhaps going out camping wasn't such a great idea after all…

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_Scrapes & Ivy_

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Perhaps going camping out in the middle of virtually nowhere, without paved roads, vending machines, and burger joints, all for the sake of one last trip before the seniors retire from the Seishun Gakuen junior high school tennis club –

Perhaps this was a bad idea, Kunimitsu thinks as he looks at the blood running down Echizen's leg and staining his sock. The freshman only looks up at his now ex-captain sullenly.

"What happened?" Kunimitsu asks neutrally, wondering, Where is Oishi? Nothing short of an Eiji-mishap can possibly keep the vice-captain from rushing to a wounded player's aid.

"Tripped," Echizen answers simply before elaborating. "While we were walking here. There was a root, and I tripped."

"Echizen," Tezuka says, and it is something like a sigh. "Come here."

The younger boy complies and Tezuka reaches into one of the general bags for the first-aid kit that Ryuuzaki-sensei insisted that they take. Tezuka had the distinct feeling that this trip might be disastrous. He bought and packed four kits.

"Oi, Echizen!" Momoshiro says, materializing out of nowhere. "You're injured already? Jeez, you just can't stand not being the center of attention, can you?"

Ryoma tugs down the bill of his hat and murmurs something highly uncomplimentary about his friend. Tezuka, hearing it, shoots the freshman a warning look at the same time as Momo says, "What was that?"

Ryoma doesn't repeat it, and the junior, bored, goes off to help Taka-san put up a couple of tents.

As soon as Momoshiro is gone, Kunimitsu finds what he was looking for, uncapping the bottle of peroxide, wetting a cotton ball with the solution, and beginning to clean the scrape.

"Buchou…"

"Does it sting?"

"No," Ryoma lies immediately, his eyes trained defiantly on Tezuka. The older boy says nothing, only concentrates on the task before him.

_("Eiji! No, don't—I think that's—" they hear Oishi yell from across the camp. "…That's poison ivy…" _

"…HEEEH!"

"…Eiji…"

"OISHIII!" Kikumaru wails. "Why didn't you tell me!"

"I tried!"

"But—but—")

Kunimitsu resolutely fishes out a large bandage and carefully sticks it over Echizen's scrape.

"Thanks, Buchou," Echizen says when he's finished, flexing the knee experimentally to admire the handiwork. Tezuka merely nods, not looking up, and picks through the first-aid kit for calamine lotion.

"Try not to do it again," he tells Ryoma sternly, if distractedly, and Echizen replies with a doubtful, "Yes, Buchou. But if I do—"

"Oishi will have the kits."

_("Agh! Don't touch me, Eiji-senpai!" Momo yells in the background. _

"Shut up, will you?" Kaidou snaps. "Poison ivy doesn't spread by touch. And it's not poison ivy in the first place, idiot."

"…HEEEH!"

"Yes, well, that's what I've been trying to tell you," Inui says, miffed.)

"…Che." Then, in a nonchalantly drawling tone: "Buchou—"

"Nn." Where is the calamine? Tezuka knows that it's in here somewhere, but he'd made the abject mistake of letting Fuji pack the general bags – and Fuji was never known for neatness, genius or not.

"Buchou, can I sleep in your tent?"

This time Tezuka looks up at Echizen, blinking a little.

The explanation comes haltingly, rushing-but-not: "Momo-senpai snores really loudly. I couldn't sleep when we roomed together at the Junior Invitational Camp."

It is a half-lie. Momoshiro, Kunimitsu is sure, does snore rather loudly, but Echizen could sleep through the apocalypse. He gives Echizen a long look.

_("Well, that's good, isn't it, Eiji?" Fuji says good-humoredly, patting his friend on the arm. _

"Mou! Oishi scared me, nya!" Kikumaru beams. "And Fuji touched it too…"

"…Hm. It seems that my previous observation was incorrect," Inui revises after a moment, looking closer at the clustered plants and pushing up his glasses. "There is a ninety-eight percent that this is in fact poison ivy."

Eiji wails. Fuji turns slowly, death and vengeance in his eyes. Momo laughs so hard that he falls into Inui, who goes face-first into the ivy.

"…TEZUKA!" Oishi yells, totally and utterly panicked. "HELP!")

"Oishi," Tezuka says finally, smoothly, as he turns to his vice-captain. "We have to move camp."

"Y-yeah," says Oishi, relieved. "Guys! We're leaving!"

"Buchou—" Ryoma begins stubbornly, but Tezuka cuts him off with an, "Echizen."

The freshman waits.

"Let's go."

Which is, Ryoma realizes, as close enough to a 'yes' as he'll get.

He smiles.

"Uisu…"

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_Notes_

First written and posted for challenge 15 in the pillarchallenge comm at LJ. Swee. Check it out.

It's my 16th birthday: Make me happy and review. Please?


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